Worth Remembering
by fanoren
Summary: "They are the darkness, and we are the light. That line is as cheesy as it is wrong. Humans and Faunus aren't the light, we aren't the darkness either. We are the twilight between light and dark, though some may lean closer to one or the other. Me? I guess I'm more dark than light I don't really know or care. I just want people to remember me after I'm gone" -Randal Ethelric, my OC
1. Chapter 1

The shattered moon shone on a desert ruin, there was no wind, no noise, no movement. The fallen black forms of Ursai lay on the ground. Gaping red holes and slash marks littered their motionless bodies. Pools of blood poured forth from their wounds. Mixed in with the monster's blood was that of a lone human.

The exhausted Hunter responsible for the new graveyard was sitting on a Fallen pillar, His breathing was ragged and labored. His body was covered in small cuts and scratches. He was young, couldn't be older than twenty. His brown hair was a mess. He wore dark camoflauge cargo pants, a black t-shirt, and a black trench coat with red flame designs along the trims. In his left hand was a large spear with a katana blade. On his face, there was a disturbingly joyful smile. He'd enjoyed what he had just done far more than he should have.

"More of those bastards here than I thought there were." He chucked. "I'm charging extra for this one." A beeping noise emitted from his pocket. The hunter grabbed the cell phone out of his pocket.

"What is it?" He was expecting it to be his recent "Employer" complaining about his rates. Hey, a Beacon Dropout supporting his younger sister had to make his money somewhere right? Killing monsters was the only thing he was good at, so he'd become something of a mercenary hunter over the past year.

"Randal?" Said the voice of a man that Randal hadn't expected to ever hear from again.

"Ozpin? Long time no see. Still running that school? Bacon was it?"

"Beacon." Ozpin corrected. The professor had a slight smile that more often than not, you'd hear it rather than see it. Randal also smiled. It was good to hear from the old friend of his family again.

"Potato Patato. So what did you need me for? Or is my uncle's old teammate just calling to check up on me?"

"You do understand that I did everything I could for your uncle." Ozpin's voice changed to a much darker, more regretful, tone.

"And that sure helped him when he was surrounded by monsters." A loud rumbling growl alerted Randal to the fact that he wasn't alone. "Hang on, I think momma Bear just got home and isn't happy about the mess I made."

A massive Ursa, twice as large as the others, rose up on it's hind legs just behind Randal. It roared, vibrating the very air around it.

"Yeah, yeah, you're big and scary and loud, but I'm having a conversation over here so maybe you should just-" With a quick flash of movement, the blade of Randal's Naginata found the bare unprotected throat of the monster, nearly decapitating it with a single swing. "-Shut up." The massive bear-like Grim fell on it's back, gurgling it's own blood for a few seconds before finally succumbing to it's wound.

With a flip of a switch, the non-bladed part of Randal's Naginata collapsed in on itself, until what had once been a massive spear was now a knife.

"So, what do you need me to do?" Randal asked as he slid his weapon into one of the many pockets on the inside of his coat.

"Weren't you in the middle of saying that I'm the reason your uncle was killed?" The smile was surely gone at this point.

"Nah, Uncle Nel knew the risks. He died a hero. Can't find much better way of dying than that. So, are you getting to the point or what?" The one issue with Ozpin was that he always felt guilty about everything that goes wrong under his watch. Unless you wanted to get a lecture on how life was precious or some other bull like that, you changed the subject as quick as you can.

"I found somebody interesting. She's just enrolled at Beacon. Or close enough, just filling out the paperwork at this point. I want you to keep an eye on her."

"You want me to spy on a student? I'll do quite a bit for you Ozpin, but I'm not getting arrested for stalking."

"No need. When you agree, I'll have you registered as a student at Beacon again. Befriend her, protect her, help her grow stronger." Another chance to go to Beacon? Randal let himself indulge in the idea for a few seconds. He had a lot of good memories of the place, but, he didn't think he'd be able to handle going back.

"No. Not after what happened."

"I know you lost your entire team last year, but this is important. I'm calling in every favor your family owes me for this. After this one job, you'll never have to see me again."

"If it means never seeing you again, then I'm a bit inclined to turn you down. My baby sister misses her 'uncle Ozpin'."

"I'm not really her uncle." The teacher pointed out.

"You know how messed up my family is. You're closer to her than her own father was."

"You're trying to change the conversation."

"I'm still saying no. I'm done with Beacon. I don't care who this girl is, or what she means to you. I'm not getting involved."

"It's _HER_ Daughter." That got Randal's attention. His mind flashed back to that night ten years ago. It was a night of fire and blood, and a single silver rose that seared itself into his memories. A night he'd never forget if he lived a thousand years.

"So this is why you said 'When I agree' you bastard. You sure it's her kid?"

"She wears that same rose on her belt." Randal sighed in defeat. There was no way he could turn this job down now.

"I'm gonna need a new team so I don't stick out like a sore thumb."

"You'll be on her team. I'll see to that myself." There was something about the way Ozpin said those words that sent chills down the hunter's spine.

"And what's my story? People will recognize me you know. I only dropped out last year."

"You'll be repeating your first year, with what happened to your team, nobody would blame you for taking the rest of that year off."

"I'll be a repeat freshie? Yay, I can already feel people's respect for me dropping like flies."

"It gives me an excuse to put you into a freshman squad. Plus, it would be hard for you to be observing this girl while in separate classes." Randal Growled irritably.

"If I get into any trouble because of this, I'm spilling the whole thing, got it?"

"That's already been assumed."

"You really bug me sometimes."

"It comes with being your uncle."

"Well, smartass, since you've already got my answer, I got a few things to take care of here before I can pack my bags, but I'll be there as soon as I can. Oh, and just to be clear,I'm not holding myself back on this job. I'm going to be my usual charming and brutal self, got that?"

"I'd hoped you'd say that. The girl doesn't understand how the world works. I'm hoping you will be able to teach her what my staff and I can't."

"No promises there. The world teaches you how she works, people like me just happen to be the bitch's preffered method. So, what's the girl's name?"

"Ruby Rose."

A/N:

Okay, take my advice. If you are ever on steam and see a game called Crusader Kings 2, don't buy it. You'll drop off the face of the earth for a few months.

This is my unedited first draft for A RWBY story that I came up with this morning. I've got a few other projects I haven't touched for months, but this one was the only one I could think about so hopefully I can get back to work on those other things once I finish editing this chapter. Anyway, the reason I posted the unedited version was just because I wanted it to get out there and see is people liked where I was taking this or not. That and I'm sleep drunk WHEEEEEEEEEEE! IS THIS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE NORA?

No, the teams will not be altered in any way, and this whole story will assume that all of my theories about the show are correct, which is highly unlikely. It will be following the actual show up until a point where I decide to split off. Not sure when that is since I just had the idea for this about 12 hours ago, so I'm a little fuzzy on the details myself.

This is going to be dark. C.S. Lewis once said that people write what they like to read, and I read Game of Thrones and Attack on Titan. AKA the two series where you fall in love with characters, only to have them all die in horrible ways. I don't know who is going to die, or how, but people will die.

* * *

Second Draft update: So, Monty Oum just released a vid of Jaune dancing, on facebook. My friends and I have come to the conclusion that Monty based the lovable idiot off of me, since our personalities are almost one and the same, and the dance thing just confirmed that theory cause that is exactly how I dance. Albeit, there would be a lot more rock/techno music, but my point still stands.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, that honor belongs to the God of all things awesome: Monty Oum. Plus all the guys whose names I don't know down at Rooster Teeth. (I don't pay attention to credits)


	2. Chapter 2

Randal Ethelric took one last long look at the ruins where the Ursai had made their home. Who knew how old the place was? A thousand years? two thousand? Despite all the research he'd done on this place, nobody knew what it had been or how long it had been here. It's creators had built a monument to their civilization and built it to stand for thousands of years, a monument to stand the test of time, to prove they had lived, that they had done things that would strike the younger generations with awe and wonder. And despite all that, these crumbling ruins were all that remained of what might have been one of the greatest civilizations the world had ever seen. He wondered if one day, far in the future, his own descendants would look upon the creations of his time and wonder the very same questions.

After all, few things really mattered to humans compared to the need to be remembered. Everyone wants to be remembered. They want people to know their names, their struggles, their accomplishments,it doesn't matter if they are remembered in their prime in the form of fame or glory, or a century after they've died. They want to know that they may have made a diffrence, that they have left behind a legacy that may change people's lives. Even if it's just our children, we want somebody to know our stories. In Randal's case, he knew of several stories of people he had once known that he will be passing on. His parents, his uncle, his old team. They all had stories that could make a difference for even a few people, and so he'd tell them. He'd teach the life lessons hidden within their tragedies, so people won't have to experience those same tragedies.

The saddest part was that the people who hired him had no interest in learning the lessons these long dead people had to teach them. The Schnee company recently discovered that large amounts of dust were mixed into the rocks that were used to create these ruins and planned to mine them hollow. The ruins also just happened to house a large family of Ursai. Rather than pay the expensive fees for a full team of hunters and huntresses to come in and deal with the problem, they decided to hire a lone mercenary to clear out the monsters. And that's where he came in.

And now here he was, likely the last person to ever lay eyes on these ruins before they were destroyed for the resources inside them. The last traces of thousands of lives wiped out so the few haves in the world can have more. Just another job, just another paycheck.

The unmistakeable sound of helicopter blades slicing the air roared as an airship flew over the ruins and Randal, coming to a stop just behind the hunter and beginning to decend. Randal reached into his trench coat and drew his weapon, Sibbald. He had the feeling that he'd be needing it soon. Especially since it had been the Faunus workers who had hired him to do this job. Something told him that they just couldn't afford an airship like that on their meager salary, since they barely managed to scrape together enough money to pay him to begin with.

The ship landed, but the engines were still running. Whoever these guys were, they wanted to be able to run at a moments notice. The ship's ramp came down, and 4 men wearing masks stormed out. On their backs were images of a red tiger's head with three claw marks, each of them brandishing a different weapon. White Fang grunts, this was gonna be fun. Randal pressed a small button on Sibald, and the weapon expanded to it's full naginata size.

"I just took on about five to ten Ursai," He told them. "I can't give you an exact number because I was too busy **KILLING THEM ALL** to count how many of the things there were."

"Whoa! whoa! whoa! Let's not be so aggressive here kid." A fifth man came walking down the ramp. He had bright orange hair, a white coat with a black feathered hat, a cane in his hand, and a cigar in his mouth. "We're not here to start a fight, we're here on business."

"What kind of business would you and the White Fang have here?"

"The kind that's none of yours. Now move along kid, the grown ups have a lot of work to do and not much time to get it done."

"First off, don't call me a kid when you look like you're cosplaying Yankee Doodle. Second, I was hired to clear this place out for some workers. If this place isn't safe for them, I haven't finished the job. If I haven't finished the job, I don't get paid. I don't get paid, I starve in the streets. Can you see how this is now my business?"

"Oh, is that the case? Well then, since you're not a kid, you are now an armed man standing between me, my men, and my job. Take him out." The grunts stepped forward, weapons drawn.

"I don't hold back, even against Human or Faunus." Randal warned the advancing cannon fodder. "Attack me and I will kill you. Step away, and I won't hurt you."

"Tough luck Human." The apparent leader of the White Fang minions taunted. "Your fate was sealed when those rioters burned down my home with my daughter still inside!" He swung a large axe at the lone hunter, who sidestepped the blow with a spiral, almost dance-like move.

"Oh sure, blame me because every other member of my race is a complete asshole! Makes perfect sense!" The shaft of Randal's spear slammed into the back of the attacking White Fang foot soldier's skull, knocking him face first into the ground. "Say hi to your daughter for me, would you?"Before the Faunus could reply, Sibbald found the back of his heart, killing him instantly.

"You bastard! You'll pay for killing him!"

"I warned you all that I'd kill those of you that attacked me." Randal reminded them as he yanked Sibbald out of the newly made corpse. "You're telling me that you'll make me pay for holding to my word? No wonder there are so many backstabbers out there. He made his choice knowing the consequences, yet I'm the villain? you remind me more and more of the humans you despise every time I bump into your organization."

"YAAAAAH!" A second White fang screamed as he charged at Randal, a sword in his hands held over his head. Randal dodged the swing, spinning as he went, and ended his little dance by decapitating his opponent mid spin.

"Well, I guess that's all the good talking is going to do here. Who's next?" Both the remaining lackeys looked to each other, and charged at the same time. "Well, took you long enough to do something smart. However-" Randal threw Sibbald straight into the chest of one of the two attackers. The second halted mid charge, gaping at the fate of his fallen teammate. He stopped completely as a hand grabbed his face from behind, and he felt someone breathing down his neck. "-all the inteligence in the world can't help you if you can't match my level of skill." And with that, Randal snapped the Faunus' neck. The body collapsed uncerimoniously at the feet of the mercenary.

"That spear..." The man in white wondered aloud as Randal retrieved Sibbald from the fallen Faunus. "Those spiral movements..." Randal glared up at his last foe with blood-red eyes that almost glowed in the dim moonlight. "And those eyes... you wouldn't happen to be that dropout turned mercenary would you?"

"Name's Randal Ethelric, and be sure to call me by my name from now on when you talk to me." The mercenary snapped.

"Well now, I didn't think I'd bump into you here. I'm Roman Torchwick, and my superiors wanted me to let you know that we have a couple of jobs for you." Randal raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of jobs are we talking about?"

"I'm... not really at liberty to say. But we're able to pay well if you succeed."

"No deal. I've already got another job lined up after this one, and it's one of those annoying types that I couldn't turn down even if I wanted to. Besides, I've made it a point not to work with the White Fang, or anybody who helps them."

"A real shame, most of my hired help these days turn out to be either unhelpful, or dead at your feet. Well, if you won't work for us, then I'm afraid we're going to have to kill you."

"You attack me, I will kill you just like I butchered your men." Randal's throat made a primal rumbling, as he made the threat. It sounded like the growling of a wolf.

"Whoa!" Roman exclaimed, backing up a little away from the teenage hunter. "Hold your horses there, killer. I'm not messing with you now after seeing what you just did." The infamous criminal nodded towards the airship's pilot, and the ship began to lift off the ground. "I'll do you a favor this one time and let you go. A word of advice: just accept the job, it's easier and nobody gets hurt." And with that warning, the airship's ramp closed up, and the ship flew off. With the threat gone, Sibbald collapsed back into itself, reverting to it's knife form, and it went back into Randal's coat pocket.

"Whelp, time to get paid."

* * *

The workers that hired Randal lived together in a small community of tents that surrounded a fire pit. Most of them were Faunus, but there were one or two Humans scattered among them. However, tonight they had a high-tech neighbor. It was a small airship that only fit about four people, though you might be able to squeeze seven in there if nobody really cared about getting a seat. This was Randal's airship. His pride and joy. He'd only managed to get it about a month ago, but he was absolutely in love with the thing. He'd made this clear to the population of tent village, and also let them know that if he found even a single scratch on the paint job, he'd find out who was responsible and mount their heads on a spike, client or not. This was why, when Randal approached the little village, he found that the inhabitants had all huddled to the side of the fire pit his ship wasn't parked on.

"Hey!" He called out and waved to them. Noel, a young faunus in his mid twenties, as well as the unofficial spokesperson for the group, waved back and ran over to Randal.

"Did you get them all?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did." Randal shrugged. "One or two of them might have been out hunting, but I doubt it. If I did miss them, don't try to fight, just get out and give me a call. I'll mop up the survivors free of charge."

"Thanks man, now we can actually start getting to work!"

"Good to hear it. Speaking of work..." Randaal held out his hand.

"Oh, right." Noel reached into his pocket and handed over a small stack of cash. Randal flipped through it, making sure that he'd been given the correct amount they had agreed upon, and scowled.

"We agreed that I'd get two thousand up front, and five thousand once the job was done." He said. "So why am I holding less than eight hundred lein?" Noel looked down at his feet.

"A piece of equipment was stolen from us, and the higher ups deducted our pay for that. This is what we were able to scrape together, none of us will be eating for a week, but we couldn't get enough money to pay you." Randal looked at the money in his hand, and back at the starving community just ahead of him. They all looked hungry, cold, miserable. But what really hit him was the three little kids sitting around the fire. He'd been in their shoes before. His own father was a miner working at a similar location. With no mother to care for them, he'd been forced to drag his kids along with him to work. Those were the worst times that Randal could remember.

"Keep the money Noel." Randal sighed. "I can make do with the two grand you've already paid, next one is going to cost extra though, got it?"

"Y-you sure?" Noel asked, almost in disbeleif.

"Do you want the money or not?" Randal snapped. "I've got places I gotta be, I've already got another job lined up, and I need to grab some stuff from my house." Noel snatched the money back from Randal. "Good. I'll see so around then." The black and red clad mercenary nodded to his employer before walking over to his ship.

"You watch yourself out there!" Noel called to him.

"You worry about your neck and I'll worry about mine!" For the first time in a long time, Randal left a job with a smile on his face, albeit, a small one.

* * *

The first thing that Randal did when he got home was take a wooden sword to the head.

"You're late for practice." His thirteen year old younger sister, Ethel said, sounding rather annoyed.

"I had work to do. Who do you think pays the rent?" Randal answered after moving the sword out of his face.

"That's no excuse. You said you'd be home by five and you'd help me train!" The girl had become obsessed with training and becoming a better fighter ever since she was accepted into Signal academy last month. Miss one training session, and she'd pin you down, tie you up, and use you as her personal punching bag for a week.

"Well, didn't realize that I'd be going up against ten ursai then now did I?" The younger girl's eyes went wide.

"You killed ten Ursai?" She smiled. "Tell me what happened! I wanna know!"

"Alright, just give me some time to relax, I just got home for pete's sake." He took off his trench coat, revealing that he was wearing a black t shirt underneath it. On the back of the shirt, was the image of a white shield bearing a snarling black wolf with glowing red eyes.

* * *

A/N: So, this chapter was mostly just me fleshing out my OC. Since team JNPR is all based on different cultures, I decided to go along with that theme. If you didn't know by the names already, Randal and his sister are based off the Anglo-Saxon culture. The Anglo-Saxons were the rulers of England from the fifth or sixth century, up until the Norman invasion of 1066, where William the Conqueror pretty much founded the modern state of England. Their whole culture was centered around doing great deeds in combat that would be passed down for generations in song and legend. They didn't beleive that much in the afterlife and thought that only your name and reputation were left behind after you died. So they just wanted to be remembered.

THe emblem for Randal is actually me just having a little fun. See, "Randal" is a mix of the Anglo-Saxon words "Ran" and "Dall" which mean "Shield" and "Wolf" respectively (I think, I'm not a professor on this stuff so I am probably wrong). So the guy's name litterally means "Shield Wolf" and his emblem is a shield sporting a wolf Motif. Anyway, I think that's enough history for today.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, just a few things that I forgot to mention in my last Author's note.

1: Randal will not actually be joining team RWBY or JNPR.

2: Randal's sister, Ethel, will not be showing up very much. And she was named after an actual historic (And badass) Anglo-Saxon queen from the 9th century.

3: Last night, a friend and I discussed the details of Sibbald. You'll see the results in this chapter.

4: We finally get to see the members of team RWBY in this chapter!

5: I can't draw for crap, otherwise I'd already have a drawing of Randal on Deviantart. You guys can draw him if you want.

Anyway, ON WITH THE SHOW!

* * *

I do not own RWBY. I own Randal and Ethel but that's it

* * *

A certain trench coat wearing mercenary sat patiently on a bench while the airship carrying the new Beacon Academy students lumbered into view. A number of older students were waiting around the docks as well. Most likely friends and family members of the new students. Though as far as he knew, whatever enemy they were facing had already infiltrated Beacon and were spying on him. As the whale sized ship came to a stop and the new freshmen emerged, Randal's mind turned back to his mission briefing in Ozpin's office.

* * *

"The girl's name is Ruby Rose." Ozpin said. The headmaster was sitting at his desk, in one hand was a coffee mug, and the other handed over a file to Randal, who sat facing the man he once considered to be something like an uncle. "After that night ten years ago, she was adopted by the Xiao-Long family, who were close friends with her mother. She has red hair so dark that it's easy to mistake for black-"

"Yeah, I can see that in the photo here. I became a mercenary, not a blind man." Randal flipped through another page of the file. "She's fifteen?" He looked back up at Ozpin. "You let this girl skip two years of training at Signal? Don't know if I should be impressed or concerned."

"She is quite talented. I have only seen one other person wield that type of weapon to that degree of skill."

"Talent doesn't mean shit if you don't have the training to mold it. I'll have see how good she is for myself." After flipping through a few more pages in the file, Randal set it on the desk. "So how's this going to work?"

"As you know, initiation is tomorrow. I plan on putting Ruby in a team with her adopted sister, Yang Xiao-Long. You are going to ensure that you are partnered with either of them during the event."

"How are you doing that this year? Lottery or something?"

"You'll see."

"When I was younger, didn't I tell you quite often that I hate surprises? Cause that hasn't changed a bit."

"You did." Ozpin confirmed, and took another sip from his mug. Randal sighed.

"Okay then, what am I protecting her from?"

"You'll see."

"Damn it Ozpin!" Randal shouted, slamming his fist into the desk. "I can't keep the girl safe if I don't know what I'm going up against!"

"As I said, you will find out soon enough."

"And until then, I'll just be waiting to feel a knife in my back." The red eyed hunter shook his head. "What's with all the secrecy? Or can you not tell me?" A long moment of silence passed between the two old friends. Although, after a few long seconds, Ozpin put down his mug. A look of absolute seriousness came over his face, and he simply stated.

"There's going to be a war." A twisted grin formed on Randal's face. Chills of excitement shot down his spine like bullets. The last war was over a century ago, and he grew up listening to tales of his ancestors who fought in the war. The idea of having his own war stories to pass down through the ages, he just couldn't help but smile.

"I take that back, I love surprises." It took some effort, but Randal managed to move his thoughts back to business business business business business business business business business business business business"We will provide you with housing and food, and pay two hundred a month in spending money. In addition, we will pay for the bills for your apartment." That was actually better pay than most of the jobs he'd done in business business business business business Not that he'd let Ozpin know that.'

"Add in five hundred a month for food money." Randal said, leaning back in the chair. His grin still in place. "Cafeteria food sucks, I wouldn't feed that slop to a starving stray dog."

"That sounds reasonable." Ozpin agreed. Randal's eyes narrowed with suspicion. Nobody agreed that easily. There was something big that he wasn't being told, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Well, that's everything I've got time for." Randal stood up. "I've got a ship to catch and a girl to spy on for my uncle. Just another day in my life." He walked to the door, standing the the door frame, he turned back to Ozpin. "You know who we're fighting?"

"I can't tell you."

"I'm fine with that. Just let them know that they should fear the black wolf." And with that, the mercenary walked out. Ozpin's small smile returned.

"He's still got that fire, I see. Good."

* * *

Randal was snapped out of his thoughts when a young blond in white armor ran over to the garbage can next to him and hurled his guts into it.

"Whoa! Watch it!" Randal shouted as reflex took over and he launched himself away from the sick teen. "Hey, you okay?" Randal asked when he was a safe distance away.

"Ugh, y-yeah." The blonde kid said groggily. "Just a bad case of motion sickness."

"Man, that sucks. think you need to see the nurse or something?"

"No, no. I'm fine, really."

"If you say so man, see ya around." Randal turned to face the large mass of students now headed for the main hall. Trying to pick out the red dressed girl he was supposed to be looking out for was certainly easier said than done. Human sight is based on movement. We notice something a lot faster if it moves than if it stays still. And in a large crowd of moving people, it's hard to pick out one particular person in a sea of movement, even if you know what they look like.

However, he did happen to catch a glimpse of a particular young blonde who scared the shit out of him. See, this girl had a bit of a reputation in the underworld of crime where he occasionally found work when he was desperate. She was famous for entering a club owned by a man named "Junior", beating the living shit out of him and all his men, and trashing the place. All in about five minutes. Nobody in the underground knew her name, but some people could give you a rough description of what she supposedly looked like.

She looked exactly like what the more reliable descriptions depicted. Except that she had purple eyes and the stories would have you think that she had red. Regardless, Randal planned to give the girl a lot of space. Preferably, he'd rather be on the other side of the city, but the other side of the school would do for now. She looked to be hanging out with some friends, none of whom were his quarry, so he just let her be.

"Now where could she be?" He wondered. He could have sworn that he'd searched most of the crowd and found no trace of the red headed girl.

KABOOM!

The unmistakable sound of an explosion sent a shock through the young mercenary's body. Had he already failed? Was Ruby killed in that explosion? He'd failed a few jobs before, but this one was far too important to mess up this quickly. Without even thinking about it, he'd grabbed Sibbald in it's knife form and ran in the direction of the explosion.

* * *

When he arrived at the scene of the explosion, he was releived to see that it had been a simple case of mishandled dust. Those explosions were rarely fatal, they were louder than they were dangerous. And laying on her back on the ground, looking completely hopeless was Ruby Rose. Randal couldn't believe his luck. Now all he had to do was help her up, introduce himself and... then the blond kid beat him to it.

The blonde kid who had almost thrown up on Randal earlier was now the one helping her get back up on her feet and then they started walking off. Suddenly, his luck made a lot more sense. The Mercenary glared at the blonde boy talking to Ruby. Was he an enemy? Was he here to assassinate her before she did whatever Ozpin needed her to do? He'd have to keep an eye on them... God, he felt like a stalker now.

After following the two teens around for a while, Randal felt that this guy wasn't secretly an assassin. From the little bits and pieces he'd picked up from their conversation, he got the idea that the two of them were kinda socially awkward. Both of them were really struggling to find things to talk about. They were discussing the boy's motion sickness in front of the fountains.

At this point, Randal was convinced that the boy was harmless and was taking in the sights for the first time in almost a year. It had been almost a year since he and his team used to hang around here. A year since his friends died. Everywhere he looked, he saw their ghosts staring at him. Why? Why was he still alive? Why did he survive that day when the river ran red with the blood of his friends and teammates? Why did he survive, crying on the riverbank while their dead eyes stared back up at him? Why? Why? So many whys. This was why he didn't want to come back to Beacon. He was still haunted by his memories here. The ghosts of his past were still haunting him. They probably would until the day he died.

SLAM! The loud noise knocked Randal back into reality. His hand unconciously went straight for Sibbald. Ruby Rose had just slammed the tip of her weapon into the ground. A scythe as red as blood, as red as Randal's eyes.

"W-whoa! I-is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable high impact sniper rifle."

"Wha?"

"It's also a gun."

"HOLY SHIT!" The two startled teens spun around just in time to see Randal approaching. A look of excitement on his face. He walked right up to Ruby, eyeing the crimson weapon before him. "Mind if I have a closer look?"

"U-um, okay?" The startled red haired girl handed over Crimson Rose to him.

"Hmmm. Weight's a little much for me, but I use a naginata, those things are made to be light and fast." Randal commented as he held the dangerous weapon. His eyes wandering over every inch of the frame. He gave it a few quick test swings, nodding his approval at how swiftly he could spin the massive scythe. Then he handed it back to it's rightful owner. "I like it. Never be able to use it effectively in a fight, but I like how it's actually very light compared to what you would think."

"Uhh, thank you?" Ruby replied.

"Randal Ethelric." Randal held out his hand.

"Ruby Rose." She held out her hand tenatively and shook his.

"Good to meet you. Now, aren't you that kid who almost threw up on me earlier?" He asked, facing the blonde.

"Uhh, yeah."

"So then, what's your name? Vomit Boy?"

"P-please, just don't call me that."

"That is one very long and strange name." Randal said with a joking smile. "Is it foreign?"

"N-no, I-I-I just." Randal placed his hand on the panicking teen's shoulder.

"Just calm down." He instructed him. "Take a few breaths and tell me your name."

"Jaune Arc."

"Good." Randal patted Jaune on the head like he was a young child and not a young man who was actually a few inches taller than him.

"Soooo... I've got Crecant Rose. What do you two have?" Ruby asked.

"Well, I've got this sword... and a shield too!" Jaune drew his sword and unfurled his shield.

"What do they do?" Ruby asked, tapping the shield. She must have hit a button she shouldn't have or something, because the shield launched itself into the air, alternating between shield and sheath.

"Well, the shield gets smaller... so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just put it away."

"It would still weigh the same though." Ranal pointed out.

"Yeah, it does."

"That's actually a good idea." Randal commented. Jaune looked at him strangely. "One of the reasons I don't use a sword is that the sheath might get stuck between a rock or something in the middle of a fight. When you fight, even a second's hesitation could cost you your life. The sheath gets caught, you have to unhook it or something and that costs you time, which you do not have in a fight. By turning the sheath into a shield, you've not only eliminated this problem, but you don't have to carry around a shield on your back as well as the sword and sheath, so you don't use as much energy when you're just walking around."

"I never thought about it like that." Ruby said.

"Not many would, it's a smart design." Randal nodded in approval. "Kudos to you for thinking about that when you made it."

"I didn't actually make it. It's a hand-me-down from my great-great grandfather. He used it in the war."

"A family heirloom passed down for generations, huh. Actually, it's a simmilar case with my weapon, Sibbald." The mercenary reached into his coat and drew Sibbald in it's knife form. "It was originally made by my uncle. It's a large knife, about ummm, I'd say a foot long blade. But, it's got a few pressure plates. For example, I apply a little pressure here and..." The weapon extended into it's full length. "Then it becomes a naginata. It's not flashy, but I like it. Then over here on the other side of the spear, it's got-"

"Um, guys?" Jaune interupted. "Weren't we supposed to be going to the main hall?"

"Yeah, I was following you." Ruby stated.

"I was following you." Jaune told her. Randal pressed another pressure plate, allowing his spear to collapse in on itself again. He had a smile on his face as these two teens argued about where the main hall was. He would have help them out, but the school had been going under some renovations recently and he had no idea where the place was now. This was going to be fun.

* * *

Okay, my mom has unhooked the internet at my place for family reasons, so now I have to upload the chapters at a friend's house. I usually only go over to his place on the weekends, so I most likely won't be updating on the weekdays. I wanted to get this chapter out this weekend, but to do so I couldn't get the time to edit it and it just feels rushed to me. I'll be spending some time doing that, and hopefully I'll have chapter 4 ready next week.


	4. Chapter 4

After a few minutes of wandering around and getting lost, Ruby, Jaune, and Randal were able to find their way to the main hall. (Mostly by following the biggest crowd they could find.) What they found inside could be described as a small sea of students, all of them clustered together in their own little groups.

"Ruby!" Someone in the crowd called out. "Over here! I saved you a spot!" Much to Randal's shock, the blonde girl he had been planning to avoid all year long was waving to Ruby.

"You know her?" He asked.

"Yeah, she's my sister." Her sister? Oh this was just perfect. The one person he wanted to avoid was the big sister of the girl he was keeping an eye on. How did he not see this coming? This was a textbook classic example of how his luck wanted him to screw up. "Well, it was nice meeting you two." Ruby told them and left to join her sister.

"Just my luck." Randal muttered as the redhead wandered off into the crowd.

"You say something?" Jaune asked.

"Nah. So Jaune, you have any friends here?"

"No." The dejected sounding teen replied. "What about you? Anybody you know in here?" Now that was a good question. Looking around, he was surprised to see that there actually were a few familiar faces. There was Andrew, that archer who shot an apple off his head on a dare once (Never happening again). Samantha, the girl who also used a naginata, he gave her a few personal lessons from time to time when he was here as a student. EJ, that wannabe rapper. Alex, Greg, James, Jess, and several others. He barely recognized them. Too much had happened. They'd all moved on, but he'd taken a different path.

"Not anymore." He answered solemnly. Jaune didn't pry, which earned the blonde kid some points in his book.

"I'll keep this brief…" Ozpin's voice boomed over the speakers. This proved to be the beginning of his speech. Randal didn't pay much attention to it, he was quickly trying to come up with some kind of plan. But a plan for what? Ozpin left out too much information for him to come up with any solid idea of what he was supposed to be doing. Well, yeah he was supposed to be protecting Ruby, but what was he protecting her from? He'd wind up tearing his own hair out waiting for whatever it was that was supposed to happen.

"Hey, Randal?" Jaune snapped the merc out of his thoughts. "You okay? You look like you're somewhere else."

"Yeah, it's a bad habit of mine to zone out whenever a teacher starts giving some kind of speech or something." Only now did Randal notice that the massive crowd was starting to shuffle out. "What's going on?"

"When the speech ended, Proffesor Goodwitch told us we're staying in the ballroom tonight. You wouldn't happen to know where that is would you?"

"We have a ballroom?"

"Thought not."

"Well, when in doubt, follow the crowd." Radal spun around in the direction most of the students were walking. "Lead us onward my army of directional minions!"

"You're... kinda a little weird, you know that?"

"I've also got a lot of violent tendencies, and do stupid things every now and then, just like every other member of our race. They just don't like admiting to it. Anyway, come on, I'm starving and want to see if they've got food in the ballroom."

* * *

Turns out they didn't have food in the ballroom. Turns out they weren't even going to the ballroom yet. The large mass of new students were instead taken on a tour of the campus. However, Being the starving teenager that he was, Randal decided to lose the tour and look for the cafeteria. And he quickly discovered that his failing sense of direction had teamed up with his bad luck in a conspiracy to ensure that he got lost.

"Seriously! Shouldn't there be some kind of general map around here or something?!" Randal raged as he wandered around the school completely lost. See, this is why he always carried his map of the school on him when he was a student here the first time. Or preferably, have his friends along so he could follow them around like a lost puppy. Whelp, time to ask random people where he could get a bite to eat.

The first person he came across, and thus the first one he decided to ask for directions, was a raven-haired girl wearing a black bow in her hair reading a book.

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to know where the cafeteria is do you?" He asked.

"Not a clue." She replied, not even looking up from her book. Real friendly person she was. Though...

"What book is that?" Randal asked.

"Weren't you just looking for the cafeteria?"

"Talking about books on an empty stomach is better than being lost on an empty stomach, don't you think?"

"Um... I guess so."

"Okay, what's that book about?"

"It's about a man with two souls. Each one fighting for control of his body."

"That actually sounds pretty interesting. Lend it to me sometime?"

"I guess."

"Thanks, it's always nice to see people taking an intrest in books these days." And this is where his old bad habit of patting people on the head came in. Only this time, he wasn't expecting to feel cat ears under the bow.

The two of them just stared at one another in shock for a few seconds, unsure of what to do.

"I really need to break this habit." Randal muttered under his breath. The girl's hand went straight for her weapon, but before she could draw it, she had the tip of a knife at her throat. "Look, I get that a lot of Faunus hide their identidies to avoid persecution. I'm not one of those assholes who treat your people like shit. I'm an entirely diffrent kind of asshole to an entirely diffrent kind of people. So, how about I don't tell anybody what you are and you don't cut me to ribbons? Deal?" The faunus girl's eyes darted between him and the knife in his hand.

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"Unless dying sounds appealing to you, I'd say not."

"I guess I'll have to go along with you for now." She said, her hand dropping back down to her side.

"Good!" Sibbald found it's way back into Randal's jacket as quickly as it had emerged. "See you around some time then." And with that, the mercenary left her to her buisness and went back to looking for the cafeteria.

_That must have been Blake Belladona. _ Randal thought._ I'm going to have to thank Ozpin for letting me know about her being a faunus in hiding. I'd have slit her throat if I hadn't known about that. After all, you never know who the enemy could be._

* * *

About an hour later, Randal sat in his seat at the cafeteria, laying his face down on the table. Jaune was sitting across from him, eating some food.

"Who would have guessed that you'd find the cafeteria after the tour did, and just before they ran out of food?"

"Shut up Jaune, and give me an apple."

* * *

So, I just got permission from aresgear to use the picture that is now the cover art for this fanfic. For the full picture, check it out on deviantart.

art/Rwby-390023660

Sadly, I got distracted with turkey day weekend. It's hard to really work on my writing with ten people in the house constantly asking you to help out with dinner or some other thing. So the quality of work isn't what I'd like. I also knew that Randal would accidently discover Blake's secret identity in this chapter, but I didn't have the time for me to come up with any other way for him to stumble across it.

Also, his luck is entirely based on my luck.

Anyway, I've noticed that I've been writing a bit too much of Randal's deep, depressing, philosophical side and just wanted to write him into a social situation. As you can see, he's got two sides to his personality. The "Profesional" side that shows up whenever he gets into a fight or is actively on the job, and the "Friendly" side that shows up whenever he's just messing around with friends and family. Since he's technicly on the job right now, his serious side is going to be dominant for the most part, but there will occasionally be times when his lighter side pops up.

I plan for one more short chapter like this one and then doing the entire forest arc in one go.

I own Randal and Sibbald and Ethel, everything else goes to Rooster Teeth


	5. Chapter 5

The rest of Randal's first day back at beacon went by rather uneventfully after bumping into a certain disguised Faunus. Night fell a lot sooner than he thought, and soon Randall and all the new students were corralled into to ballroom for the night.

"Really dude? Really?" Randal said to Jaune in disbelief. His toothbrush was sticking out of his mouth as the merc stared at the blonde kid that had just emerged from one of the bathroom stalls wearing a onesie set of Pajamas that even included feet that looked like rabbits.

"What? They were a gift from my aunt-"

"When? Ten years ago? I didn't even know they mode those things that big!" Randal spit into the sink and put his toothbrush away. "Hang on, I'll get mine. I never wear the things anyway, so it won't be a problem if you borrow them."

"If you never wear them, then why did you pack them?"

"Because I didn't pack them! My sister took over packing my stuff and also 'conveniently' forgot to pack the book I was reading, Yet she still packs me a full set of her favorite series!"

Randal himself was actually wondering exactly why he was hanging around with the lovable blonde idiot when Ruby was on the other side of the ballroom. Maybe it was because the two of them shared a similar family history, what with Jaune's ancestors being heroes in the last war and every male member (and a few female in more recent years) of Randal's family had signed up to fight the Grimm at some point in their lives. Maybe it was because neither of them really knew anybody else in the school? Either way, Randal just couldn't shake the feeling that sticking around Jaune was a good idea.

The two boys soon emerged from the bathroom into the ballroom. (Jaune was now wearing Randal's grey pj bottoms and a white t-shirt, Randal was wearing his usual casual outfit.) And much to their surprise, a certain teacher was waiting for them.

"U-um, p-proffesor Goodwitch!" Jaune stuttered out when he caught sight of the teacher. "What are you doing here?

"Waiting for you two." She answered. "I needed to speak with one of you privately for a moment."

"O-o-o-okay, I can explain-" Jaune panicingly stuttered, something that Randall noticed as being a bit odd.

"Not you, Mr. Arc. I need to talk with Mr. Ethelric."

"Go on ahead Jaune, I'll meet up with you in a sec." Jaune just looked utterly confused. He'd obviously been expecting to be the one the profesor wanted to talk to. Nontheless though, the blonde teen moved on. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I'm just surprised to see you here again. Especially after what happened last year."

"Don't remind me. Ozpin offered me a job I just couldn't turn down. Once it's done, I move on."

"Well, Here's hoping that you're with us for a long time then."

"Here's hoping that I'm gone in a month."

"Things change with time. I hope you come to appreciate this opportunity."

"Can you get to the point? I don't think that you'd wait for me outside a bathroom just to tell me this."

"Very well." She held out her hand. "I wanted to see how you've been treating my creation."

"You're crea..." Randal began, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Oh, you mean this." He reached into his coat and produced Sibald. "I forgot, you worked with uncle Nel to make this." He handed his weapon over to the proffesor, who examined the knife with care.

"I see that you modified it quite a bit. It no longer has the buttons that were in the original design."

"I find pressure plates to be easier to use."

"What happened to the original form?"

"I still use it from time to time. Don't like to though. It's more fun to use the Naginata and knife combo."

"Nel was the same way. It was always about what was more fun. Though I remember that you were always best using Glory and Victory."

"You haven't seen me this past year."

"True." Goodwitch handed Sibbald back to it's owner. "And I hope to see much more of you in the next few months."

"Like I said, I hope to be gone in a month." Goodwitch's reply was to give him a sly smile. The kind of smile that told him she knew something important that he didn't. He hated that kind of smile.

"We'll see just how long you'll be here." She told him, still smiling, and walked away. As he watched her leave, Randal wondered what the hell he'd just signed on for with this job.

* * *

A/N: Yeah, I know this one is really short. The next chapter will be the entirety of the forest arc, and that might take me a while to write up, so I might not be able to upload it next week, but I'll have it up as soon as I can.

I do not own RWBY I own Randal and his sister, but that's all.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys. Just wanted to apologize for the shit that was the last chapter. I had planned to edit it a bit more and add in a lot more, but then I had a really bad day. How bad? I don't drink, but if I did I'd have been passed out drunk by ten AM. I could go on and rant about this for about fifty pages or so, but you guy's didn't click on this to read about me bitching about my shitty life moments. Don't worry about me doing something stupid though. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger, and it takes a LOT to even faze me. (If anything, it'll just piss me off.)

One thing I'd like to mention is that I'm writing on this site so I can get feedback. My dream is to be able to make a living as an author, and I write here so I can what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong with the stuff I write before I get to work on my original ideas. I don't like doing this, but I'm asking you guys to send a few more reviews my way.

Since I am still not in a very good mood, Randal might be a bit more pissy and foul-mouthed than I meant to make him. I mean come on, I think I've sworn more in this Author's note than I have in most of my chapters!

always, I don't own RWBY. I own Randal and his sister, nothing more.

* * *

Randal sat on a bench in the freshman locker room. He always kept his weapons on him at all times, so he was just waiting for the announcement for everyone to meet up at the beacon cliffs. He was also reading one of the books his sister had packed for him. He never really intended to pick it up, but he found himself bored out of his mind last night after Goodwitch had left and grabbed the first book in the series out of one of his bags. It was actually really damn good so far. The fact that he could pretend to read the thing while keeping an eye on his redheaded VIP and what was going on around her made it even better in his opinion.

Looking up from his awesome book, Randal decided to have another look. There was a guy with black hair that had one random pink strand in it. He was talking to a hyperactive redhead girl. They seemed to be talking about sloths or something… correction, SHE was talking about sloths, he was being completely silent. How in the world could that guy stand her was far beyond his capacity for understanding.

Ruby and her blonde sister, Yang was it? were having some kind of argument. All Randal heard was something about teams and then something about milk before the whole thing devolved into a yelling match.

"Uh, hey Randal?" The mercenary looked up from his book when he heard his name. Jaune was looking at him with a desperate gleam in his eyes. "I seem to have misplaced my stuff. My paper thing here says my locker is number 628, but I know I would have remembered counting that high, and Initiation is today, and I… can you help me out here?" Randal's eyes returned to his book.

"My locker is number 325, you left your stuff there because it's closer to the door and I wasn't going to use it anyway."

"Really?!" Jaune asked, hope filling his voice.

"That or It was a weird dream of mine last night. Though there was a distinct lack of flying purple hippos, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a dream. Don't ask about the hippos."

"Thanks, man! Thanks a lot!" A now smiling Jaune said as he ran off to find his stuff. With the blonde kid gone, Randal turned his attention back to his book for maybe another two minutes before somebody else showed up.

"That looks like an interesting book." The sound of her voice sent chills down his spine. He'd honestly hoped that he wouldn't bump into her again for a good long while. Looking up from his book, Randal saw that faunus girl, Blake, getting her weapon and gear out of a locker just a few feet from him.

"You can't borrow it until I'm done with it." Randal snapped.

"I'm fine with that, however…" She slammed her locker shut and sat down on Randal's bench, glaring at him. "I want to know why you're spying on that girl, Ruby." The mercenary's eyes widened in shock, and he dropped the book. He looked at her, and for a few seconds they just stared at each other. One of them in complete shock, and the other determined to find out what was going on.

"Was it that obvious?" Randal finally inquired. Blake shook her head.

"Not to a normal person." She answered, "But, I'm not exactly normal." Her bow twitched after she finished her sentence. "It was pretty obvious after overhearing you conversation with Proffesor Goodwitch that you aren't here to learn, and after lights out, I found this in your bag." She produced a file on Ruby. A file that Randal didn't have in his bag that night. A file that he'd left with Ozpin after their discussion earlier that day. Whose right hand woman showed up to talk to him last night… and that smile… goddammit. He'd been set up. But why would they set him up? Did they want Blake to be in on this? Did they leave the file for somebody else? Well, no point in wondering about it now, time to solve the issue at hand.

Turns out he didn't have to for now. He had never been happier to see Jaune- or a javelin- in his entire life. Both the screaming kid, and the aforementioned weapon came flying from across the room and were then pinned to the wall next to where Blake and Randal were sitting.

"Jaune! You okay?!" Randal jumped out of his seat and removed the javelin pinning his new friend to the wall.

"Sorry!" A female voce called out behind him. Randal responded the only way he knew how to in this kind of situation, by throwing the javelin back at it's owner. However, he wasn't very good at throwing javelins. He could throw Sibbald at close range, but Sibbald was a lot thinner, a lot longer, and much heavier than a javelin, and this was not close range. Instead of hitting anywhere he wanted it to, it flew over the heads of the two girls he was aiming for, and landed somewhere on the other side of the building. And maybe if he was lucky, he probably didn't hit anybody. One of the two girls shouted something at him, it was something like "You suck!" or "Thank you!" Or for all he knew it could have been "Fat Italian chef!" See, his mind was still panicking about Blake. Desperately trying to piece together what the hell was going on. Mostly, he was wondering why Ozpin wouldn't just tell him to get Blake involved if that was so damn important.

Turning away from those girls, Randal put a hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"I need to talk to this girl about something important, so give me a few minutes before you tell me why somebody would want to throw a javelin at you." Randal turned his attention back to Blake and motioned for her to follow him. She looked at the scroll she was now holding in her hands and back at him before following.

"So, what did you need to know?" Randal asked once the two of them were a fair enough distance from the rest of the students. Blake glanced at her scroll again, a look of uncertainty flashed in her eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked. Randal raised an eyebrow.

"That's all you wanted to know?"

"For now."

"Let's just say that I owe somebody a debt I'll never be able to repay, and they called in a favor."

"What do you owe them exactly?"

"My life." Randal admitted, letting his eyes wander. "My little sister's life. My father died that night, but because of them, the two of us survived and moved to this city to be with our uncle. We've got a brighter future here than we ever did with my father, so they saved both our lives and gave us futures." There was a sudden flash of movement, and Blake's scroll suddenly found itself in Randal's hand. "Yoink."

"Hey! Give that back!"

"You were looking at this thing when you were talking to me. You sounded like you had so many questions earlier, yet you only asked me one. The reason for that is on here, isn't it?" After pressing a few buttons, up came her most recent message

_I see you've met the black wolf. You are not to ask him for any more details about what he is doing here at beacon, and you will help him in any way you possibly can when he asks for it. You will be contacted with further details later. And if you do not do as I say, a certain Mr. Schnee will learn that a member of the White Fang is going to the same school as his daughter._

_-King_

The Schnee heiress was here at Beacon? What the hell was she doing at a school designed to train killers? He shoved that question to the back of his mind. He had other worries more concerning right now.

"You're a member of the White Fang?" Randal tossed Blake her scroll. His free hand went straight for Sibbald.

"Former member." The girl corrected as she caught her scroll, seeing as there was no reason to hide it from him at this point. Randal did her a favor by not drawing his weapon.

"Would all first year students report to Beacon Cliffs for initiation." Someone said over the loudspeaker. Timing is a bitch at times.

"Meet me after initiation." He told her. "We'll figure this all out then." He began to walk over to where Jaune was, but The raven haired Faunus blocked his path.

"You know, he didn't say anything about you just telling me about what's going on." A grin made it's way onto Randal's face.

"I like the way you think." Then a thought occurred to him. "We haven't been properly introduced yet, have we? I'm Randal Ethelric."

"Blake Belladonna."

* * *

A/N: Okay, I know that this isn't what I promised this chapter would be. Though in my mind, any promises I make when I am ever in the kind I was in last week are null and void. This was all originally supposed to be in the last chapter, but didn't make it it in for reasons I had already mentioned.

On one last note, I've started to think about pairings for this story. I've got a few ideas, but I gotta wonder, what pairings do you guys want to see? I don't do Yaoi or Yuri because my family reads my stuff, and I am not going to be the one who explains to my ten year old stepbrother how that works.

Anyway, next chapter will definitely be the forest arc.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N Yeah, I missed the update last week. I'm pretty sure that whatever higher power is up there, they sure as hell don't want me to fulfill any promise I make on this site. I didn't really have much of a chance to write after I got hit with schoolwork, christmas, and a sudden bug all at the same time.

* * *

Randal shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other. He stood on a small square platform that he knew was designed to throw him off the cliffs and into the forest below. He didn't know what made him feel worse, his dizzying fear of heights or the sight of this particular forest. Next to him stood Jaune, who looked just as anxious for a similar reason to Randal's first. On the other side of the blonde knight stood Ruby, and next to her was her sister, Yang. Followed by a long line of people the mercenary didn't recognize. Blake was probably somewhere down that line, but he couldn't see where.

He'd been quick in summing up what he knew about the situation to her. He knew at this point that she most likely wasn't apart of any plot, group, or anything that wanted Ruby out of the way, and since this mysterious "King" had blackmailed her into helping him out, he figured it was fair that she at least know what was going on. Though there were a few things she didn't need to know, such as who hired him or who he owed that debt to. So pretty much all she knew was that he'd been hired to keep Ruby safe, but didn't know from what or when the enemy would strike.

In front of the students stood Proffesors Goodwitch and Ozpin.

"For years you have trained to become warriors..." Thus began one of Ozpin's speaches that Randal never really paid any attention to. Though this time he made sure to pay enough attention where he could get sucked back in at the mention of the word "Team". His mind was already falling back to the questions he had locked up in the back of his mind.

Who was this "King"? How did he get that information on Blake? Did King have any dirt on him? If so, what was it? There was one question that crossed his mind several times. What was so special about this girl that she needed protection in the first place?

"...Rumors about the assignment of teams." He heard Goodwitch say. His attention snapped back into the situation at hand. "Allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates, today. A curious groan came from Ruby, but that didn't stop Ozpin from picking up where his right hand left off.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with which you can work well."

_"Just get to the damn point already. I want to be done with this as soon as I can and go back to my book."_

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner for the next four years.

"WHAT!?" Both Ruby and Randall cried out. He'd been expecting something that he'd be able to rig, like pulling names or numbers out of a hat or something along those lines. This was just... random. He suddenly wanted to drag the headmaster back into his office and force him into coming up with an actual way to form teams, but he doubted that would work.

"Now, you goal here is to-" A sudden beeping noise in his pocket distracted the headmaster. Grabbing his scroll out of his pocket and opening it up with a look on his face that was a mix between curiosity and annoyance. "Take over for me would you, proffesor Goodwitch?"

"Certainly." As the blonde professor explained what they would be doing for initiation, (Randal didn't pay attention, he'd been through it before) The mercenary kept his eyes on Ozpin and the device in his hand. Something was up. And his gut told him it involved "king" in some way.

There were many times when Randal was grateful that his aura was the same color as his eyes. Especially times when he had to use his aura to sharpen his eyesight without anybody noticing. He hoped that nobody noticed that his eyes suddenly gained a faint red glow as his aura activated. He focused his eyes on Ozpin's scroll, he couldn't see much, but he knew for a fact that he saw the word "King" used in the message somewhere.

"Mr. Ethelric, please deactivate your aura until you are in the forest." Goodwitch lectured. Randal shut down his power reluctantly, and now Ozpin was glaring at him. "Now, due to one team of students misinterpreting the rules last year, I must inform you that you are not allowed to attack other students and steal their relic." Randal smiled, that was his team that did that last year. the rules said that they'd be graded on how they guarded their relics, but grim had no need for relics and wouldn't try to take them, so Randal had twisted the rules a little so they allowed his team to do exactly that. Since nobody had told them that it was against the rules to attack other students, they had no choice other than letting him get away with it.

"Any questions?" Ozpin asked, putting away his scroll. Jaune's arm went up.

"Uh, sir?"

"Good!" Ozpin declared without even acknowleging Jaune. The moment Ozpin opened his mouth, someone at the very end of the line was launched into the air.

"Uh, sir? I've got a question." Jaune continued. A white haired girl got thrown off the cliff. "Soooo, this landing stradegy is... what? Are you dropping us off or something?

"No, you will be falling."

"Oh, I see... so did you hand out parachutes for us or something?"

"No... you will be using your own landing stradegy."

"Wheeeee!" That hyper redheaded girl from earlier squealed as she was thrown.

"So, what exactly is a landing stradegy?" Ruby and Yang were both flung over the edge.

"Time to sink or swim kiddo." Randal commented. Sibbald in his hand in knife form.

"Wha?" Was all the blonde knight managed before he was sent screaming over the edge. With the last of the students gone, Ozpin turned to Randal.

"Blake is going after Yang. I need you to focus on becoming Ruby's partner." The words barely registered in the red eyed teen's mind before it was his turn to try to fly. The sudden shock of Ozpin's words threw him off balance, and his "Landing Stradegy" thrown right out the window. He was in freefall for a good twenty seconds until his head met a large tree with a loud THUNK! And everything went black.

* * *

An eight year old Randal clutched his uncle's hand tightly. It was dark in this theatre, and that scared him. You never knew what was lurking in the darkness.

"You doing okay?" Nel asked the child with a calm voice full of concern.

"I'm scared." Randal said, looking up at his uncle with eyes that were on the verge of tears. "I wanna go home."

"Hey," Nel got down on his knees to be eye level with his little nephew. He was a handsome young man in his mid twenties with slightly disshelved brown hair, big chocolate brown eyes, and a gentle smile that always helped Randal feel at ease. "I know it's only been two months since it happened, but you can't live your life being scared of the dark." Randal's gaze went all around them. He saw nothing but shadows and darkness hiding behind the lights, almost as if they were waiting to swallow up those lights. "Look at me." Randal turned back to his uncle. "There's nothing here. Nothing's going to hurt you."

"But what if you're wrong?"

"Then your big bad uncle will beat the snot out of those monsters who made me lie to you. C'mon. My buddy's daughter is about to perform. He's going to be bragging about it for months, and I'm probably going to be stuck listening to him because of all the favors I pulled to get you enrolled into Lodestar Elementary so late in the year."

"Ladies and gentlemen, Amber Alwin!" The announcer... announced.

"Let's get to our seats, quick!" By the time they did get to their seats, a young girl, Most likely Amber, was standing in the middle of the stage, lights and eyes all on her.

She couldn't have been much older than Randal, if anything, she was probably younger. She had bright red hair that came down to her shoulders, and her deep golden-red eyes glanced nervously across the audience before she started singing.

_There's a sea of lonely  
Swimming sad  
Looking just for  
an arm to grab  
I don't need to  
Understand,  
I'm just lending you  
The two that I have._

Something about her suddenly changed once those words left her mouth. It was almost as if her anxiety and nervousness were suddenly replaced with a confidence Randal had never seen before in anyone. It sent chills down the young boy's spine.

_You might be drifting  
_And can't find the shore  
So hopeless  
And all alone  
The waves are crashing  
All around you  
Just when you've lost the will to live  
You see the sun

She wasn't the best singer in the world, and the song obviously wasn't easy to do with a child's voice, but there was something about her voice that made him feel like she was actually concerned about and wanted to help him.

_Can we make a searchlight  
From all the bridges that we burn_  
_Do you see a rescue_  
_Or a deeper kind of hurt_  
_Who could love you_  
_Who could hold you_  
_I'd swim across the sea_  
_You don't have to be alone_  
_When the shallow gets so deep_

Randal was at a loss for words, he really did feel that she was singing this song for him. Not for the ongoing contest, not for the audience, for him. He couldn't take his eyes off her. She demanded his attention, and he was more than happy to oblige.

_You might be drifting  
__Can't find the shore  
So hopeless_  
_And all Alone_  
_The waves are crashing  
_All around you  
_Just when you've lost the will to live_  
_You see the sun_

He could have sworn that she started glowing as the song came to a close. And for the first time in a long time, Randal wasn't afraid of the dark anymore.

* * *

"Ugh." The mercenary groaned. Opening his eyes, he was shocked at how blurry his vision had gotten. "How hard did I hit my head?" He reached into his coat pocket for Sibbald, and a surge of adrenaline flooded his body when he realized his beloved weapon was missing. He was on his feet in less than a second flat, without any concern for his body's condition. "Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?!" He muttered to himself in sheer blind panic.

Snap! Went something that obviously wasn't a twig. Looking down, Randal realized that he was indeed standing on Sibbald. In fact, he'd just snapped the blade in two.

"Well, shit." Randal picked up his knife and examined the damage. "Yup, this blade is done. They're freakin expensive too, I'm gonna have to watch my step from now on. I'll just add it to Ozpin's fee later." At the mention of the headmaster's name, he suddenly remembered how he came to be unconcious under a tree. "What the hell is wrong with that guy? He should know better than to spring important info on me like that just before throwing me off a cliff... never thought I'd say that sentence."

Randal pressed down on a pressure plate just below the base of the blade, and said blade shot out of Sibald, impaling what was left of itself in the trunk of a tree. He then produced another blade from one of the many pockets on the inside of his jacket, and inserted it into the slot the previous blade left vacant. "Now to find Ruby."

* * *

A/N: The song used in this chapter is "Drifting" by Plumb. I don't own it or RWBY. I own Randal, his sister, and possibly King.


	8. Chapter 8

Ozpin entered his office, still staring at the screen of his scroll, just as he had done for the past half hour. The teams had already been formed exactly as he had hoped. Ruby with Weiss, Blake with Yang, Jaune with Pyrrah, and obviously Ren with Nora. And Randal was on his own, just like he prefered to be. Yes, he'd told the mercenary that he wanted him to be paired with Ruby,but he actually had other plans for his old friend's nephew. Debt or no, the boy would have refused the job outright if he'd told him what he wanted outright. Luckily, Ozpin's leverage on him was reported as secure last night. Randal would learn of his real purpose here soon enough, and have no choice but to stick around.

After looking down the hallway to make sure nobody was coming to see him, he closed the door and locked it. What was about to happen was for his eyes only. not even Goodwitch knew the larger picture of what was going on.

Set up on his desk was a chess board with only two pieces on it. The two kings. Ozpin sat down in his chair and leaned his scroll against a stack of books. With a few taps on certain buttons, the screen showed a man covered in shadow.

"Hello, Ozpin." The man's voice was filled with static and switched pitches at such a rate that it was obviously artificial.

"King." Ozpin greeted before taking a sip from his mug. "You wanted to chat?"

"I was just wondering if you found any new pieces for the match."

"I did. Shall we go over them?"

"The enemy has a few new ones as well. Time to set up." Ozpin pulled out one of his desk's drawers. Inside was every missing piece to the chess set on his desk. He set down the white queen, and a bishop _Me and Glinda. _He thought. _Qrow._ He set up one of the knights _Rwby, JNPR, once the teams are formally established that is._ He thought, placing another knight and a rook. _Randal._ Setting up a single pawn in front of the king.

_Cinder Fall_ the black queen. Torchwick, the black bishop. Junior, a black pawn.

"I see you've added three new pieces to our side." King observed. "A knight, a bishop, and a pawn. Unfortunately, the enemy's also been recruiting."

"Their new pieces?"

"A rook and three pawns." Ozpin set up the four new pieces on the black side of the board.

"And who do they represent?"

"The White Fang and their top agents." Ozpin looked at the image of king with a puzzled face.

"They recruited the White Fang?" He repeated. "How'd they convince them?"

"I don't know, and it's not important for right now. Soon, the enemy will be making their move, and the White Fang will take credit for every move. This will allow their masters to manipulate things from the shadows without having to worry about the police."

_Just like you're using me as the 'face' of our organization._ Ozpin noted. _You want to move your own pawns freely while the enemy is focused on me. _"I'm surprised that you don't consider how they got the white fang on their side to be important. knowledge is power after all. And what better way to disrupt the enemy's forces than by feeding the White Fang false information on their new master's intentions?"

"knowledge is not power. It only helps you keep or win it. But there are other factors too that are more important."

"I have to disagree." Ozpin stated, taking another sip from his mug. "If we knew our enemy's identity and where they were, we could strike now and finish this war before it even starts." There was a short moment of silence between the two men before King finally spoke.

"Ozpin, did you know that I have an agent of mine hiding in your office?"

Ozpin grabbed for his cane, but it was too late. Someone was already behind him and they had a firm grip on his hair. They Yanked his head back, and pressed the cold steel of a knife against his throat.

"See how useful that knowledge I gave you turned out to be?" King mocked "Just because you know something doesn't mean that you will be able to use it to your advantage. For example, if we did know where our enemy is, who they are, the full forces available to them, and everything else we'd need to launch an attack like the one you suggested, we'd be overwhelmed within a matter of hours. We simply lack the manpower. We do this like a game of chess, taking out as many pieces as we can and minimize our losses until we have the power to put them in checkmate." The chill of steel against Ozpin's throat vanished, and the hand in his hair disappeared along with it. But the headmaster knew that whomever the belonged to was still in the room.

"Did you have to do that?" Ozpin asked, salvaging his composure.

"Few things are more memorable than a close call with death. This was a lesson I wanted you to remember well. Knowledge is not power. Power is Power. Memorize it Ozpin. The fate of our world may depend on it." And with that foreboding message, the screen shut off.

* * *

A/N So, here's this week's chapter. Just making up on my own personal timeline. One thing I'd like to say though. HOLY CRAP 2000 views! Undoubtedly, this is the most popular thing I've ever written on this site and I'd like to thank you all for your parts in getting this story more than three times as many views as the one I posted last year.


	9. Chapter 9

Randal was having one hell of a time trying to find Ruby. The Emerald Forest was a big place, and who knew how much of a head start the young girl had gotten while he was out cold?

The Huntsman for hire jumped from tree to tree, using a pair of spare blades for Sibbald as climbing tools. He'd learned long ago that while it may not be the fastest way to travel, the longer range of sight was commonly worth it. A loud, piercing howl, simmilar to that of a wolf just ahead of him caught Randal's attention.

_There's a clearing up ahead. _He noticed. _Sounds like something's going on. Better check it out._ A smile already forming on his face from Excitement. A fight was coming, he could feel it in his bones. And he would enjoy every second of it.

He landed in a tree on the edge of the clearing, and was greeted with the sight of twenty or so Beowolves surrounding a young woman with hair as white as snow.

"Well now..." Randal commented. "That's gotta be the Schnee heiress. Sure looks like she fits the profile." He was torn. On one hand, he had a job to do. On the other, he was sure that Mr. Schnee would have plenty of jobs for him, or at the very least give him a big reward for keeping his little girl safe. He decided to just keep an eye on her long enough to see if she could handle fighting all these Grimm on her own.

It didn't take long before Randal had Sibbald in his hand. "She's second guessing her stance too much." He muttered to himself. "Damn rookie's going to get herself killed." The heiress dashed towards one of the Beowolves, with her sword glowing red, and ready to plunge into the heart of the beast. A sudden flash of red startled both The heiress and the man in the tree. Ruby Rose was suddenly in front of the Beowolf, taking it's leg off with her giant scythe.

"Got ya!" She cried, completely oblivous of the fact that the heiress was about to blast her to pieces. In a panic, the Schnee girl redirected her attack, and a fireball shot out of her sword at a nearby tree.

"Shit!" A certain crimson eyed man yelled as he jumped from the tree just before the fireball struck it. Randal landed on the hard ground just below the burning tree. "Why does this always happen to me?" He complained. "Is my life some sort of twisted comedy or something?" Looking up from his little pile of dirt, Randal noticed that the fire was spreading rapidly, the two girls were running off, and just as his luck would have it, the Beowolves decided that he was easier prey than the princess and the grim reaper in a red hood.

Now, at this point Randal figured that the two girls had most likely made eye contact by now, and thus meant they were on the same team thanks to that idiot Ozpin's rule. This meant that he'd failed his job. This pissed him off to no end. Throw in the facts that he was apparently nothing more than a pawn in some greater master plan if his assumptions about "King" were correct, Ozpin's insane rule, someone manipulating that whole event with Blake earlier, and the fact that he almost got blown to itty bitty bits by friendly fire, and he was in serious need of stress relief. Relief that these poor Grimm had just signed on to be.

Randal jumped up to his feet. Sibbald was already in his hands, and extending into it's full form.

"Alrighty, who's first?" Randal's smile came back as adrenaline flooded his entire body. The pack of werewolf Grimm slowly encircled him, and then it was a waiting game. Beowolves hunted by wearing down their target, they struck at their prey lightly from random directions only one or a few at a time until the victim was too weak to fight back. Then and only then would they go in for the kill.

The first grimm lunged at him from behind, it's fangs ready to sink themselves into human flesh. Randal sidestepped the attack while spinning Sibbald with both hands. His weapon's blade slashed upwards into the Beowolf's throat and decapitated it. He kept spinning the naginata, increasing the force behind every strike he'd make.

Another Grimm attacked, and was rewarded for it's efforts by being sliced in half at the waist. A third Wolf jumped at him, only to have it's face cut off. Another launched itself at the hunter for hire, followed by another, and another, until they were attacking so rapidly that he barely had the time to dodge, let alone strike back.

"Time for a different approach." Randal held out Sibbald to block an incoming attack. The Grimm's claws struck a pressure plate in the middle of The spear's shaft. The metalic pole snapped cleanly in two, and the werewolf's claws raked at the mercenary's face. A flash of a dark red flared as Randal's aura absorbed most of the blow, but even so, his cheek was bleeding. Randal knew he knew that his aura wouldn't be able to take another hit like that.

So what was he supposed to do, what with his weakened aura and broken naginata? The answer was simple to him. Keep smiling, and invite two old friends to the party.

The two halves of his weapon whirred and clicked with a mechanical chorus, as they transformed from parts of a spear shaft, into a pair of tonfa. They were his uncle's favorite weapons. Glory and Victory.

He twirled the handled clubs in his hands before smashing them into the neck of the Beowolf. It fell backwards, wheezing with it's windpipe crushed. It hadn't hit the ground before another Beowolf had it's skull caved in.

"Heheh." Randal laughed as he twirled the clubs in his hand. This was what he lived for. His senses were sharpened to the point where he could feel the blood being pumped throughout his entire body. Shivers of excitement shot up and down his spine with every strike he blocked, dodged, or returned with interest. As he smashed the jaw of his tenth Beowolf victim to pieces, Randal noticed that the wolves began to hesitate. Hunting prey was important, but their own lives were far more important. Killing just a few more would cause them to break and run with their tails between their legs like the pups they really were. The wolf at his feet with a broken jaw whimpered as it tried to limp away on a broken leg, another gift from Randal. Didn't get too far before Randal introduced Victory to the back of the Grimm's skull.

"Anyone else want a go?" He taunted. Just as he predicted, most of them shrinked away. The only one that stepped forward was obviously the alpha of the pack. It was much larger than any of the others, and it was obviously stronger. Randal knew that his aura wouldn't be able to stand even a single hit from that monster, even if he was at full power.

This was where Randal simply pointed the clubs at the giant Grimm and pressed a pressure plate in the handles. A storm of red dust filled bullets were shot out of the ends of his weapons and exploded into a dance of flames upon contact with the giant wolf. Incindiary rounds were a lot of fun. The burning grimm howled with pain as it slowly roasted to death. The remaining Wolves scattered deeper into the forest rather than fight.

Randal pressed another pressure plate on his weapon's handle, and the bottoms of the handles fell out, revealing that they were in fact clips for the gun-tonfas.

"These bullets are pretty expensive." Randal muttered under his breath. "Along with the spare blade I already broke, this is turning out to be an expensive hike."

* * *

A/N: I'm gonna have to cut it short here. Due to my usual School, Life, sudden freakin illness again, and a new one to the list: my internet was starting to act up and I couldn't access the site. Because of that, I wrote most of this chapter in a single day, so yeah it's probably a little rushed.

And yes, I did that with Sibbald. Cause every weapon in RWBY has to have a gun built into it.

Also, I just want to thank you guys again, because Worth Remembering is now at 2500 views. Whoot! Let's see if I can get to 5000 by the end of the month! And maybe a second review.

I do not own RWBY, I own Randal, his sister, "King", and that's about it.


	10. Chapter 10

Just a few things I want to say to my reviewers.

ThatInternetGuy: Yes, I agree that beowolves are probably the weakest grimm we've seen so far and are certainly incapable of breaking a hunter's weapons. However, I want to point out that Sibbald is hollow, this is what allows it to be collapsable and capable of firing bullets, this also makes it relatively fragile compared to other weapons we've seen. Plus, The Beowolf didn't break Sibbald. I specifically stated that the beast hit a pressure plate, one that enabled Randal to split the shaft in half so he could use Glory and Victory in the first place.

Jozern: Thanks for the massive review! I finally feel like I'm actually getting good at my writing, and I hope it shows. Also, I will be doing scenes from other character's POVs (Planning for it all along). I've already got an interesting one lined up from Yang's.

Thank you both for the support. And now let's get to the story before it gets gobbled up by a beowolf or something.

* * *

Randal was at a loss for what to do. He'd failed the mission Ozpin had given him, so now what was he supposed to do? Screw it. Let Ozpin have that headache. The primary goal of his job here was to keep Ruby safe, so that's what he was going to do.

Glory and Victory in hand, the mercenary hunter departed the scene of his most recent work. The alpha of the Beowolf pack he'd just decimated was still yelping in pain as it burned alive. He needed to find Ruby and the schnee girl before something less friendly than the big black puppies found them first. He followed the trail of rose petals the two huntresses in training had left behind until he came to a fallen tree with a large feather laying on it.

"Oh, shit." Randal swore, and ran down the path of petals. He knew that only a Nevermore could have a feather of that size. If there was one flying around nearby, then he wasn't sure how safe anyone in this forest was. Randal had fought one before, and he would rather fight another pack of Beowolves with his hands tied behind his back than face another. He had to find those girls NOW.

* * *

Blake stood on a small hill overseeing the temple with her new blonde partner.

"Think this is it?" Yang asked. Blkae shot her a "What do you think?" look before walking down the hill and into what appeared to be the remains of an old stone structure. Inside were a number of platforms, and standing on each platform was a chess piece. Rooks, Bishops, knights, pawns, queens, and kings. Blake stood in front of the black king piece.

"Chess pieces?" She wondered aloud. The man who forced her into this situation called himself "King", so did that mean he knew about the relics being chess pieces or was it just a coincidence like she secretly hoped it was? She didn't even want to think about the nightmare her life would be if this entire school was somehow connected to that person.

"Some of them are missing." Her teammate noticed. "Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

"Then I guess we should pick one." Blake replied, her mind still elsewhere.

"Hmmmm. How about a cute little pony?" At first, Blake didn't hear her. Her mind focused on the message she had received from "King" after her conversation with Randal.

* * *

_I see that you managed to get Randal to tell you what was going on rather than asking questions. Smart girl. I could use a smart girl like you on my side. Hunt down the blonde girl, Yang, in the forest and become her partner. Your secret remaining a secret will depend on it. I've included a picture as a reference. Once this is done, you will receive orders from me through our mutual friend, the Black Wolf. I hope you do not disapoint me._

_-"King"_

* * *

_"_Sure." Blake answered her new partner. She just wanted to get this over with so she could have that talk with Randal, and hopefully figure out more of what was happening.

* * *

Randal was running along the path of rose petals when he heard a sound that sent cold shivers down his spine. A screech that he'd heard before and remembered all too well. Looking up, he saw the black shape of a Nevermore flying just overhead, and tiny bits of red and white clinging to it's claws. Randal's mind went from mind-numbing terror, to completely blank, to swearing like a sailor in approximately three seconds.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" he shouted as he turned and ran in the direction of the massive flying Grimm. "How the hell did they even get on that thing?!"

* * *

Blake was surprised to hear what sounded like a woman's shout that snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Some girl's in trouble!" Yang shouted, looking in the direction the scream came from. Blake's attention was called somewhere else as a giant black bird came into view. "Blake, did you hear that? what should we do?" Blake just pointed upwards as a girl in red and black fell off the giant bird.

"Heeeeeaaads uuuuuuup!" The girl shouted down at them before a blonde boy flying in another direction slammed into her mid-air. The two of them flew into a tree nearby.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked Yang. Thus began a series of events that led to a group of eight people standing in front of the temple with a Nevermore flying over their heads and a Deathstalker charging at them.

"Great, the gang's all here. Now we can die together!" Yang said, as their group's newest addition, a girl with red hair, green eyes and wearing brownish yellow armor shakily tried to get back to her feet.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby let out a battle cry as she charged headlong at the deathstalker. Much to the shock and horror of the older sister.

"Ruby! Wait!" The older sibling called out, but The scythe wielder paid no attention to her, taking a swing at the oversized scorpion. The blow bounced right off the Grimm's thick armor, and the Deathstalker smashed Ruby away with one of it's giant claws.

"I-I'm okay! Totally fine!" She informed the rest of the group, though her voice clearly indicated that she was anything but fine. Also, she was completely oblivious to the fact that the Deathstalker was closing on her with it's stinger raised and ready to strike.

"Ruby! Watch out!" Yang shouted as she started running out to save her little sister. Ruby turned around in time to see the golden stinger of the monsterous Grimm launch itself at her.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

It's stinger missing the girl by a couple of inches, the deathstalker shrieked in agony, a certain spear embeded in one of it's eyes, and a trench coat wearing, red-eyed, smiling mercenary stood on top of the beast, holding onto his weapon for support.

"Guess this makes me a big damn hero now doesn't it?" Randal smirked, grabbing the pressure plate in the middle of Sibbald's shaft. The top half popped off and transformed into Victory, which Randal grabbed and fired incindiary rounds point blank into most of the Grimm's eyes. The giant scorpion thrashed about, desperate to get rid of the pesky hunter attempting to blind it. Once the floor beneath him became a little too wobbly for his taste, Randal jumped off the Grimm, landing right next to Ruby.

"Randal?" Ruby asked in shock. She obviously didn't expect the guy to save her last minute a few seconds ago.

"You get back to your sister. I'll handle this thing." Ruby's reply was to shoot out another of the scorpion's eyes with Crecent Rose. "Has anybody told you that you're a horrible listener?"

"Why should I? We can beat this thing if we work together!"

"Beat it? I'm trying to keep it distracted so you can get help! There's a huge difference!" A sudden charge from the wounded Deathstalker killed their conversation pretty quickly. Ruby went to the creature's left, Randal to it's right, and next thing he knew, he was flying through the air after taking a hit from the beast's claw. He landed on his side in the dirt, a sudden sharp pain shot through his body. He at least bruised some of his ribs in the landing, maybe broke them. His aura would be able to numb the pain for a while, but it was almost used up entirely protecting him from the Deathstalker's attack, and would need a few minutes to recharge enough where he could use it at all. The issue was, Ruby had only a few seconds if she didn't run.

Luckily, common sense seemed to kick in suddenly for the girl as she realized the position she was in. She turned tail and ran for her life, with a blinded and enraged Deathstalker on her tail. Randal smiled as he realized that she was much faster than the Grimm, but a flash of black above him reminded him that the Deathstalker wasn't the only threat. His heart sank into his stomach as he watched the nevermore's feathers impale themselves into the ground, one of them caught Ruby by her cloak, while Yang was trapped among several of them.

Randal tried to get back to his feet, but a sharp shot of pain from his injured ribs quickly put an end to that idea. Randal raged at his inability to do anything but watch as the Deathstalker approached girl he was supposed to be protecting with it's stinger raised and struck. And much to his surprise, a wall of ice shot up between Ruby and the monster that would have killed her. Freezing the stinger, and thus the scorpion Grimm, in place. Randal let out a sigh of relief and relaxed, trying to focus his energy on replenishing his aura.

* * *

Whooo! This was a big one! Or at least that's what it feels like. I only got to start writing it on friday, so... yeah. Anyway, I'm going to try finishing up initiation in the next chapter, and hopefully reveal what Randal is going to be doing from now on since he doesn't have a team. Plus, I want to get around to something else immediately after that.

Anyway, Worth Remembering is now up to 3150 views! Yay! Can We make my goal of 5000 by the end of the month?

Also, if you guys have your own theories about anything in this story, be it King's identity, who that girl Amber from a few chapters ago might have been, or what Randal's role is going to be, please let me know. I really enjoy hearing about these. Anyway, it's getting pretty... early. Turns out it's 1 am right as I'm typing this. So please forgive any spelling mistakes or rushed writing, I'm exhausted.


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